Deliciously smooth buttercream with the fantastic flavour of Nutella – the perfect topping for any cupcake!

It is no secret that I am a Nutella fan. I came to the obvious conclusion that adding Nutella to buttercream could never be a bad thing! One of the reasons I don’t like normal buttercream that much is because to me it can taste a lot like sweetened butter. Now I realise I am in the minority here as most people love buttercream, but this Nutella buttercream is my kind of buttercream! The chocolate hazelnut taste compliments the buttercream and is delicious.

The recipe I used was from a blog called Cooking Classy (http://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/09/banana-cupcakes-nutella-buttercream-frosting/). Their recipe used a banana cupcake, but I decided to use a simple vanilla cupcake.

This recipe makes enough buttercream for roughly 12 cupcakes. However if you like buttercream piled high on your cupcake, the recipe says to make 1 1/2 the amount below.

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup salted butter
1/4 cup Nutella
2 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
2 cups icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract  
3-4 tsp double cream

1. Beat together the butter until pale and fluffy
2. Add the Nutella and cocoa powder and beat again to combine
3. Add the vanilla extract and icing sugar and mix slowly until combined
4. Finish by adding enough cream until the buttercream is the right consistency – it should be firm enough to hold its shape when piped. Mix one last time and then it is ready to pipe onto your cupcakes